Using data compiled from Google’s Doubleclick Ad Planner, the list places One Manga at No. 935 with 4.2 million unique visitors each month. The site, which illegally posts translated scans of hundreds of manga titles, ranks higher than Toysrus.com, Barbie.com, NFL.com and VirginMedia.com — and, well, countless thousands of others that didn’t make the list at all.

News From Our Partners

Comments

49 Comments

Joe H

Can’t wait to see the reactions from analysts (most of which will probably use it as more basis for switching to digital media), and the subsequent reaction to those (some of which will be piracy defenders and print loyalists defending their choices in either illegal activity or in crippling the industry).

Animefan

If isn’t licensed in the united states it isn’t covered by us copyright.

If you can only by it in japan in japanese and a fan translates into english for the people that can’t read japanese how does that harm the market?

The people who can’t read JP wouldn’t buy the jp stuff anyway, but the fan translation might make them want to buy wall scrolls, figures, fighting games that are light on story etc.

It doesn’t hurt the japanese market because the person reading it wouldn’t be a customer anyway. It expands the base of people who’d shell out money for the anime/manga merchandise. There isn’t a US company that would lose sales because no US company licensed it for sale. It provides free marketing for the figure/wall scroll makers and would make people want to import the game to read from fan translations of the game on gamefaqs.

Heck you could only play sakura taisen in english if you bought the game and read the script on gamefaqs until this yr when sakura taisen 5 came out, but I digress.

Onemanga removed claymore, tenjou tenge, berserk and a few others that I can’t remember.

If they removed berserk when it was licensed how did that hurt dark horse?

If the government came out and said that the 4 kids dub of one piece was the only version you could legally view in america, all of the american one piece fans would watch the fansubs anyway.

If there are old obscure manga from the 60’s-70’s that are jp only and have scanlations who’s bottom line is harmed?

“If isn’t licensed in the united states it isn’t covered by us copyright.”

See the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works.

“If you can only by it in japan in japanese and a fan translates into english for the people that can’t read japanese how does that harm the market? … The people who can’t read JP wouldn’t buy the jp stuff anyway, but the fan translation might make them want to buy wall scrolls, figures, fighting games that are light on story etc.”

That’s a rationalization for simply taking what you want. If a Japanese title is widely available in translated form online for free, there’s very little reason for a U.S. publisher to invest its money to properly and legally license that title. That’s dipping into the pocket of the creator of the work.

Paploo

Xenos

I can’t stand sites like One Manga. Though I confess I’m more used to file sharing of zipped files and not these lazy sites that have page by page viewers. How lazy are you that you have to have a web site organize your files for you? At least with p2p file sharing scanlations you’re not generating web traffic for money from ads. These people are about on par with the HK bootleggers back in the day. Sure it’s still violation of copyright, but it wasn’t a blatant and didn’t make money off of it.

Now I confess I downloaded stuff off peer to peer. Hell, I still do sometimes. When people are already online or friends at a club are talking about spoilers about the newest chapter and you’re afraid of ruining, I admit I cave in and download. Though I’ve cut back. I now have piles of in print manga I bought that have gone unread. It’s had gotten to the point where I realized I wouldn’t read all that I got.

The very need to download scanlations had become an act in itself, more important than reading series and caring about particular manga. This is the Pokemon addiction. We gotta catch ‘em all. You’re not a fan if you like a handful of manga. You have to real them all to be one of the cool kids. You have to read all scanlations the ‘cool kids’ are reading instead of just finding what you like. It’s almost an addictive contest.

This generation I’m in is infected with the consumer urge of the 80s amped up to a monstrous degree and is enabled by the infinite consumption abilities of digital technologies. Oh and add on top of that a sense of entitlement. It’s a horrific. We’re all so far gone with out free digital downloads that we don’t even realize the real world consequences. We forget that people get paid to make these books and when we read them online for free, those creators get nothing.

We bitch about getting legit online distribution and think this illegal method which gives the creator no notice is the way. It’s not. It just makes things worse. The industry is collapsing due to us being termites slowly eating out the supports to fill out insatiable hunger. If we don’t realize or admit we’re bringing down the house that feeds us, we’re truly going to bring it down around us.

Animefan,
You’re views of online scanlations and copyright laws are really skewed and naive. Yes, of course posting copy written material from anywhere in the world is illegal. And you sure seem to stick your head in the sand when it comes to looking at how the manga industry is collapsing. An entire generation of fans, of which I’m at the start of, is growing up getting manga for free. Publishing companies are dying. Meanwhile a site that bootlegs their martial is one of the most visited one the net. You’ve got to you have head shoved pretty firmly up there to not make any connection and think things are all fine and dandy.

Also, I really doubt that most of the scanlations being read are not available in the US. And guess what, if you want to whine and bitch about books not in the US, but still don’t want to be a thief, put your money where you mouth is and order the Japanese copies of the manga online. There are dozens of Japanese import stores online that sell manga in the US. Never mind you treat American companies that bring titles to the US as if they’re the criminals. Please. CMX’s Tenjo Tenge and 4Kids’s One Piece fiascos are the exceptions nowadays. Stop using them as a lame excuse to get free entertainment you have no intention of ever paying for, you cheapskate. You’re only hurting people who like anime and want to see it popular here in the US. Quit spreading your lies and straw-men.

You say you’re a fan of anime and Japanese culture, but you surely are giving the middle finger to Japan and its creators. You say it only matters if their word is licensed in the US, as if their Japanese copyright is written on toilet paper, as if their entire industry in Japan is worthless.

Xenos

Anime fan posted[i]”Other than when they see that there is a massive fanbase online and choose to release it in english.

I think that’s why higurashi and lucky star were brought over for that reason. A lot of anime that are popular fansubs are brought over because of the massive fanbase.”[/i]

Yeah, and how did that work out? Hardly any of those people bought, say, Higurashi or Lucky Star or Haruhi. For all the talk of ‘Nice boat’, I don’t see School Days flying off the shelves in the US.

Anime fandom has become a fickle self serving princess. They don’t care and refuse to see how the system works. They shout out, “I reject your reality and substitute my own!” Why should Japanese creators even give two —-s about fans who don’t give a fig about them getting paid for their work? How can anyone defend someone who distributes someone else’s work for free? Of course you’re gonna have leeching. And looking at these numbers, unless you’re delusional about it, the leechers are far outnumbering the paying customers.

True, some scanlations sites have gotten me into series before they were out in the US. Blame! being a key example for me. Yet I know the system is broken. Fan scanlations is not the answer. It’s like duct tape holding up a brick wall. It’s a temporary fix until a title comes out in the US or we get a quicker legit way of buying translated manga. Yet people have become so addicted to this temporary fix, the wall is going to come down before we get something that will sustain it. Scanlation is not the ultimate answer to the problem and has become a problem itself.

Also, One Manga isn’t a scanlation site. Even a number of scanlators are against that type of distribution of their still illegal product. They say that while their product is an illegal copy, at least they’re not making money off of it like this website is. Even downloading scans off peer to peer I can’t excuse myself. How people feel they can defend this website is beyond me. You must be pretty far gone into your own little world and have lost your grasp with how the real world works to defend such a site.

I read OneManga, but in my defense, I never read anything that I can buy in by beloved language, English.

I also don’t read it too much because it’s mighty uncomfortable to sit and read a few thousand pages on my laptop.

The only comic that I really want to read is Bakuman which is coming soon from Viz, so I’m not even looking at the site anymore.

I disagree strongly with people who claim that it’s always wrong to look at OneManga. Some of the stuff is super popular like Bleach and Naruto. Some of the things there are simply NOT coming to the English market. I live in NYC, I can visit the Book-Off and pick up a few volumes of the raw Japanese books, but without literacy in the language, they’re just a pile of pretty pictures.

Anonymus

I do wish people would grow up, especially the ones in these companies.

If websites that hold online manga / anime would make so much money with ads, why not do that yourself?

Hire the scanlators / translators that now do it for free. At least into English language, and from English (from separate text file, with google translate into any other language).

Keep the website subscription free and membership free (to counteract product copying), and you will be guarantied that your website will reach top 100 most visited, and the ads will begin to overcome the costs of maintenance.

But all this would mean that they [companies] would learn to adapt to the (already 15 year old) new market and demand, which they do not …

(Sorry about my poor English)

Anonymus2

I think that anonymus has a good point. Eveyone has the same angle here. “Scantilations are bad, they should go away.” the industry should adapt to this changing world and take fan scans and turn them into something they can use to their own benefit and approve of. They could have their own sites and use it as a gauge to see what should be liscensed or what is top manga elsewhere than japan. I think a lot of intrest in manga would die off in the rest of the world if people couldn’t read online. When a new manga comes to our local manga shoppe, how would we know if it’s worth our time and money? There wouldn’t be a lot of reviews on it because it was only available in Japanese. I’m not saying that piracy is good, but just completely taking away these types of sites may cripple parts of the manga industry that are not in japan. I just think there can be a way, a GOOD way, in keeping these sites, but perhaps charging or reconfiguring how they work and who owns them.
Sorry for errors in my English.

tiffac

There are two things in my view for the reason, readers have turned to online translated Manga’s.

1) Some distributors are just too slow when it comes to releasing the Manga’s they have purchased the rights to.
Example: Delray with Tsubasa and Xxxholic of CLAMP. .

hack//Link vol 1 was just released this month but if I’m not mistaken the copyright was purchased last year for it.

2) Usually they discontinue, if they feel the sales are not up to par from what they want.
Example: Tokyopop with Sakura Wars. Darkhorse with Narutaru aka Shadow Star

All of us wants the distributors to make money but unless they become faster on their release and promise to continue a series to the end. Then we can see online sites like Onemanga to continue till the end of eternity.

Lert

Because i live in country Oz there really isn’t any manga / anime aviliable for me to buy. This means that reading manga on OneManga and other sites is my only way of reading manga. I admit that reading it online isn’t great – but really what other choice do i have??
The manga comes from Japan to the US and if its not profitable it doesn’t even get to Oz
Im all for buying the printed copies, but i really cant

Random123

Yes, I agree it’s illegal, but if I never read mangas online or watched fans sub animes, would I have really cared about it at all? Fansubbing and scanlating are the reason of how I actually became introduced to mangas and anime. I think that the author should be happy because their mangas are being read by people from other countries. I thought that the purpose of books and such is to spread and share the passion you gain from reading them? All of you who criticise us for illegally reading mangas and claiming that we are not a “true” fan shouldn’t. All those companies just think about money money money. So to share an author’s story in exchange for money — does it really matter that much? Without these sites, I would’ve never known or been fans of all these mangas and animes. I also believe that these fansubbers and scanlators want to share their joy and love for these shows and mangas so they share it to us — people who might’ve never known about them. Isn’t that what really matters? AND, the person above me has also said: “Because i live in country Oz there really isn’t any manga / anime aviliable for me to buy. This means that reading manga on OneManga and other sites is my only way of reading manga. I admit that reading it online isn’t great – but really what other choice do i have?? The manga comes from Japan to the US and if its not profitable it doesn’t even get to Oz. Im all for buying the printed copies, but i really cant”

That’s another point. I am also in a country where manga is hard to find. Therefore, I also have no choice but to read it on these sites. I find it very annoying that people still debate over this matter. Calling us “illegal readers” and shit. Give it up bitches. Fighting about this is immature. As long as we have all shared and experienced the joy we get from reading mangas and watching animes. Isn’t that right? ==”” T_T

Leo

Well, It turns out that OneManga is shutting down – no more free scanlations for the masses.
I can’t say I’m not devastated, even if It’s wrong of me to. I will thoroughly miss them; they were the only website that actually reliably released scanlated weekly chapters of various Shonen Jump manga, and what not.
It was probably this issue that made the mangaka’s and publishers realise they really couldn’t be dealing with all the free online/illegal reading of their manga, and OM have been told to stop, I think. Go to their website, a little notification of what’s happened comes up as you go on the site.
RIP OneManga.

Someone

As I’m only a child, I have no choice over what I can buy and what I cannot. Though you may think it’s cause I’m just spending all my money on other things, it’s not. I don’t get an allowance, and I’m too young to work. Believe me, once I can, I want to work — that’s if I could find a job. Online scanlations and fansubbing are the only ways I can read manga and anime.

Manga and anime has been part of my life since I was 6, or even younger, watching DBZ on the TV. I really couldn’t watch that much though. I was restricted to television only on Saturdays. Later on Inuyasha and Naruto came, and I discovered the world of manga and anime online. When I can, I try to support the manga industry. Last Christmas, I’ve bought some of the manga I’ve loved, and collected some over time. I bought 16 volumes of Fruits Basket, 5 of Shugo Chara, and some more, which I really could easily read online. But really, I can’t afford to buy that much more. My family isn’t rich, and it’s not like my mom is completely ecstatic with my love of manga. Unless you’re encouraging me to steal my mom’s money and sneak out to buy some, it’s just not happening. Even if I did have all the money I needed to buy all the manga I wanted, most of it isn’t available. It’s not licensed, or the updates or simply much too slow. And I may be Asian, but I’m Chinese, not Japanese. I wouldn’t be able to understand if I got the original versions.

Also, it seems that Onemanga is closing. To some of you, it’s a joyful occasion. To me, I’m really scared. I love manga, and it’s one of my passions. I draw it, I debate it, of course, I read it. If all my resources to reading manga slowly disappear, what can I do?

If there are never many scanlations, or fansubbing, I would never have taken up this hobby. I have a frugal personality by nature, and no way could I justify to my mom spending hundreds on manga. My local library has some, but not a lot. If manga online is completely obliterated, than I wouldn’t buy the manga anyway. The industry isn’t exactly losing any money from me, since I would only buy my favorites — which I am already doing.

On the subject of not getting my manga directly from the non-profit scanlators, really, I don’t know if I could keep track of all the mangas I read. An update list is convenient because I just scan it everyday, see what’s new, and read it. It would be absolutely impossible for me to check every scanlation group everyday. I may be only 13, but even I don’t have that much time. Or the patience. Do you?

I may not have the excuses some other people have. I’m not in a place where manga is scarce. But I’m a child. I have a guardian. And so do many other manga fans. My nonexistent income simply cannot support such an expensive hobby. And as a child, I have many interests. As a growing girl, I’ll enjoy many new hobbies. But since childhood, manga and anime were a constant.

What is a true fan? Some of you are saying that us supposed fans aren’t supporting the industry. However, is that a fan’s duty? Supporting the industry? Or simply loving the products themselves, the story, the art? I can honestly say I love manga. I love anime. And I support it 100%. Can I say financially? No. But that doesn’t mean I’m not a fan. And no one has the right to say I don’t love something I do.

Last time I posted my views somewhere else, someone responded that I was probably just some random 13 year old spouting some righteous nonsense. I am, but does that make my views any less valid? Does that mean I can’t think, or have strong feelings about it? Maybe I’m not as wise or mature, or experienced as many of you. But I am human. And I do have thoughts. So before someone replies that I’m just a little girl, let me tell you that I am. But that doesn’t make me a nobody.

Someone

Oh, just to clear it up. When I said, “If there are never many scanlations”, I meant to say, “if there were never any scanlations” Typing this much this late without proofreading makes things like this happen. Sorry!

Sethos

Well I gotta admit that I’m a tad bit sad about all this bitching regarding scanlations and illegal readers and shit… There has to be over a thousand… no much more mangas that have come out from japan over the years… so what is the probability of all of em getting licensed and being sold where I’m from… probably zero… I like reading mangas, even if there are some titles that are not as popular and wouldn’t probably end up being translated in english anyways… for this reason manga sites are a good option. I am all for buying mangas if i can get it in english but if i can’t I won’t let the issue regarding licensing and shit stop me from reading what I like… and its fan-for-fan material guys… these scanlators and translators do it for the love of mangas and animes not to make money… so as a manga fan, who was introduced to this world through such sites and fansubbed animes, and having spent tons of money on anime and manga merchandises thanks to the such sites which built up my love for animes and mangas, I must admit I don’t quite fully understand the need to close down such sites at all… if you have to then remove licensed stuff from the sites but no point in closing it down completely… well that’s just my opinion…!!!

Sigh

I believe something like this was mentioned above but I feel the need to readdress it. If online manga is so popular publishers need to do it themselves. That way they can expand their audience and make money. I would definitely pay $10-$25 a month to read all the manga I love every month. Yea it would require a lot of partnerships between different publishers, creaters, and translators to get as much manga as possible on the site(s). On a side note, most tv networks have their shows legally online off their websites for any and all to watch completely free. if publishers like Shueisha did this even with a membership fee a lot of people would likely participate.

On the topic of Onemange, they even took steps a while back to keep younger children from reading the more mature series and today I find out they are just removing it all. Yea I’m really annoyed about it. I understood from the beginning (three years since I’ve read off that site) that it was completely illegal. I just love to read manga like the rest of us. Personally I do buy volumes of manga I like when they are released in English. If you notice most scantalators even ask the readers to buy the releases to support the artists. This is why I have 50+ manga volumes since I started reading manga six or seven years ago. If it comes down to it and they shut down all the manga sites that have the ones I like I will resubscribe to Shonen Jump and look around online for when the volumnes are released.

Sigh I just had to rant about this a little. Makes me wanna learn Japanese(did anyway) and move to Japan.

someone else

I agreed with Anonymus… about how the industry should change their approach. I will name just Hulu as example… “according to a NYT Interview with Jason Kilar, Hulu’s chief executive, revenue topped $100 million in 2009.” This show that free site with huge numbers of visitor generate a huge amount of profit.

I think that kind view can by applied to manga industry even novels… Many printed magazines in the US just made profit from ads…some of them even are free because the revenue margin. the the onion and cerisepress
are good example.

the only problem about these ideas are the owners. Some of these greedy guys just want more money and bigger bank accounts.

I apologize for my bad English

Sakon90

I gotta say, this bums me out as well. I can understand that it is arguably cutting into the “legit” people’s pocketbooks, but i gotta agree with what was said about adaptation. Like with a certain fansub site with naruto ending about a year ago, because viz got smart and started releasing their own subbed version of Naruto Shippudden, not that there aren’t illegal copies still floating around. The market can easily turn this type of “piracy” into a benefit for themselves if its really cutting that much of the profits, that you can spend the money to get it forced to close, then you can potentially mimic the piracy actions and make more money than before.

Hal

The majority of the manga that I read is because of these websites. Without them I doubt I would ever have known about them and probably given up on manga completely.

I also have to agree that shutting down public websites like mangatraders and mangatoshokan would hurt the businesses more than they would help them.

First of all a lot of the mangakas who write these series are just starting out, so their reputations can only go as far as the publishers in the country will allow it. And even if their series are able to get authorized to be shipped outside the country, there is no guarantee that they will make it to all parts of the world. It is especially true for the smaller countries who may not have a strong publishing branch that allows manga to be imported. This could be due to very sensitive policies in which the people may find the contents unfavorable to their youth culture

Second the scalation websites are a modern convenience for promotional usage. Getting a a manga licensed and translated in other countries takes years to accomplish-most of the popular manga series now would have taken at least 10+ years before they could be known anywhere outside the country, let alone within the county that distributes them. But through the free promotion like scanlations they are publicized on a global scale; a feat that can hardly be achieved through standard means.

Take for example the ingenious creator of the “Hetalia, Axis Power” series by Himaruya Hidekaz.

He was able to utilize his own series through the internet without charging his fans, and as a result it has taken the world by storm. The manga has already been turned into an official manga, obtained an anime series, official merchandising, a full length movie after a few short years of the anime’s serialization, and to top it all off licensing and dubbing in the United States while it is still in the process of creating more episodes.

To say that these scanlation sites are “hurting” the manga industry is a huge underestimation of the promotional value and benefits that they can acquire far more easily and quickly than the standard procedures ever could. Another example is that while the manga is free on the internet, it does not necessarily mean that fans will not buy it in stores.

Even I still buy the manga I read if it is really well written and drawn. But if the websites that promote these series are taken out, I’m not going to make my considerations on buying them as much as I did before.

FAN

i think that even tho free scantalations are ruining the publishing industy sites lyk onemanga are the only sources for our beloved manga if we are half a globe away frm where they are published……………..

the site shutting down has left an effect on me in a -ve way but nothing can be done………>_<

i m really sad

but still i'll keep mah fingers crossed……………..

anonymous

you have to realize that not many manga fans actually have the money to buy licensed mangas. i try get it from the library if i can but the library dont have many choices.
if i had money and if my parents were more allowing of mangas and animes, id have a bookshelf full of licensed mangas.
“You must be pretty far gone into your own little world and have lost your grasp with how the real world works to defend such a site.” Xenos, i dont know you and i know you have expressed your opinion and im okay with that. but your judging people by their action. we have not lost the grasp of how the real world works (at least me anyway) why dont you tryin saying that to 4.2 million people who visit onemanga?
also, i know its no use defending this site becuz the creator already announced it would be closed down, but do you realize how many ppl give their effort and sweat and time to make others happy by scanning, cleaning and translating all these mangas? at least give a bit of credit for them.

anonymous

anonymous

im going to rant some more. and i completely agree with Someone. and your not a little girl. i think youre really mature to talk about stuff like that. and you used big words.

i grew up on animes like digimon, pokemon, tokyo mew mew, etc.
and i officially got into watching anime online in 4th grade. and i began reading manga only in 6th.
i knew that i was reading off from an illegal site, but that didnt stop me because why? like ive said before I HAVE NO MONEY.
my parents aren’t very supportive of me watching anime or manga. I can’t dare mention something like buying a manga, or going to an anime fest like Sakura Con.
I would buy licensed mangas if i could, but i just dont have the money, or old enough to work.
OneManga was pretty much the only way for me to read manga.
i also dont have excuses like living in a country where there’s no manga, but im not rich, my parents arnt rich and my grandparents live in korea and theyre over 80 and they were farmers.
i think this argument is quite stupid and i value peoples opinions but why cant some people think of others?
not much to say because everything i have to say has been explained by Someone the 13-year old.
and i am pretty sad OneManga is closing down…T^T

anonymous

oh and also Xenos, my parents lecture me about college every single day. and they have been since i was in 5th grade. we have not lost grasp on how this world works. we have not gone into our little world. its a passionate hobby.

Jorge Figueroa

After being mad for a while because of the news of onemanga’s closing. I cant say i didn’t see that coming. In reality piracy has punched a hole on the pockets of everyone involved in manga production. I especially feel sad for the hole in the manga artist. The reason i started using sites like onemanga is because they are faster, more accurate and more accessible than traditional methods. I feel a little happy that a paying online manga site is going to start but I will just say that it better be better than non-paying sites. There are other alternatives too manga sites like torrents, sharing trough USB and the likes. I want them to be conscious of this so they deliver something that doesnt feel like the “only” alternative to scanlation sites and create something we want to be a member of. Most importantly, hurry up and be online in a week or someone will invite something to let the cocaine addiction that can be called manga to be experienced

Andrew

Ok. Well we all know that One Manga is going down and there’s nothing that we can do about it. However, reading through everyone’s posts makes me want to make a post myself.

First of all, I just want to point out that I do read scanlations (and I know all of you guys have done it at some point as well so don’t depict me as some fiend), but unlike some who are simply giving “one-sided” arguments, I’ll try to be as neutral as possible.

First, lets start off as to why One Manga should have shut down. It’s obvious that reading illegal scanlations is ruining the manga industry because with “4.2 million unique visitors each month” reading manga for free, you can obviously see the detrimental effects that it has. I’m sure that out of all the people who read manga, some do actually BUY the manga, but I’m positive that most people would rather go to One Manga and read illegal scanlations than actually buy manga. Now for those of us who say that they “live in country Oz” and aren’t able to buy manga at their local bookstore, then I would have to agree with Xenos and “order the Japanese copies of the manga online” from “Japanese import stores online that sell manga in the US.” I mean really, I’m sure that if you’re able to get on the Internet and go to One Manga, then you can just as easily go to a Japanese Import Store and buy some manga (unless of course financial circumstances are stopping you).

Now, on to why One Manga being shut down is problematic for some people. The people who are probably having the hardest time with One Manga being shut down are those who are underage and can’t get a job. People who are underage can’t get a job, and as a result have no money. Now sure, they can get some money from their parents, but most parents aren’t going to continually pay for all of their manga needs (assuming that they read manga often). Also, some people are saying that it was because of One Manga that they could read manga that have not yet been licensed in the US, and to that I have to agree with since it’s pretty true that only popular mangas get licensed in the US. Though I don’t believe that can be considered a valid argument for being allowed access to a large database of illegal scanlations.

Lastly, what the manga industry should do. As all of you know, we’re in a digital era, which is also why such a problem with One Manga has occurred. I agree with Anonymus’ suggestion that these manga companies should follow One Manga’s lead and let readers read for free while the ads pay for the maintenance (and eventually accumulate profits). Though unlike One Manga, obviously make it legal. Following what someone else (a poster above me) said, just look at Hulu and try to picture Hulu’s approach as the framework for a manga website. Though like he also said, it all depends on whether these manga companies are willing to cooperate.

I know that for some, being able to get access to a large source of manga is hard, but for those of us who can just simply drive to the bookstore and buy manga, please do that instead. I’ll be honest, I’m 16 but I don’t have a job (yes I have searched), and so I can’t exactly say I have much money. Though is that a valid excuse to read illegal scanlations? No. I think what we need is a solution similar to what I said in my third paragraph.

I know I there is a lot that I’m missing from both sides (positive and negative effects of One Manga closing down), but if I were to go that far in depth, then I might as well make a 10 page essay.

Last Comment: For all of you who say that people can’t write or have no credibility simply based on their age, I strongly advise that you open your eyes. Someone (a poster above me) had a really good point even though she is 13. I’m 16, so does that make me have less credibility or less of an opinion than others? I don’t think so.

Andrew

Sorry, its late and I’m not perfect so I made some mistakes. When I said “I think what we need is a solution similar to what I said in my third paragraph.” I meant to say fifth paragraph. My bad. Also I don’t know why I put that extra “I” there in the second to last paragraph.

giriyasama

I live in india.. the term manga/anime is not known by anyone…The kids in india only watch the cartoon which is aired on cartoon network/disney xd/animax…. No mangas are sold in this country of 1.1billion…with 40% youths…i like to read JP comics which target the youths…how can i buy manga here..let alone i once tried to get it shipped to india from JP..they said they cant offer that service to this country!

As much as I agree with the concept of adopting the concept of fan scanlations, I have to say that I foresee a problem with that, right from the get-go. Anyone here subscribe to Crunchyroll, or a similar ‘licenced’ streaming site? More importantly, anyone here remember what happened to Dattebayo Fansubs after Crunchyroll got sponsored?

They got *BLASTED*, that’s what.

And while everyone-and-nextdoor’s-cat was baying for a piece of Dattebayo, Crunchyroll used the fact that they were ‘officially-backed’ as an excuse to churn out a badly-subbed, much poorer quality product — a product which, I might add, is *completely unavailable* to anyone in any and every country in which that product is not officially licenced, even if the people in that country are *paying* for the privilage of having access to it.

What about those products, and what about those people? What does that say about the industry’s concern for the more remote areas of their product’s fanbase? The answer is, they don’t care. If it’s not profitable for them to licence that product to a group of fans in a remote location, they just won’t bother.

Take the licencing of ‘Digimon’ in the UK, for example. Digimon was taken off-air here after the end of “Digimon Tamers”/Season 3. They denied us Season 4, and the fanbase has diminished because the product is no longer available, and because of that, half the Digimon fans that I know didn’t even *know* there was a fourth and fifth season – they weren’t even *aware* that Digimon was continuing in other parts of the world. And why? Because they abandoned us, because we were a niesh market, and we weren’t profitable enough to justify continuing the publishing of that product in our country.

It is the INDUSTRY that is the problem here, not the scanlators. Why is the industry villifying people who are just trying to give people access to something they might not have access to otherwise, people who live in places where it is hard to even get the publishers to licence their products? Why?

It’s because they want their money – why should they allow people to promote their products to a micro-market who don’t represent a big-enough profit margin? That damages their revenue streams, and god fobid they should allow that! The only thing the publishers are interested in is MONEY, and they don’t give a crap about the people’s interest in their product unless there is *enough* interest to generate a profit. And for the people who *can’t afford* to buy their products in the first place? Psh… Those people don’t even get a look in the door before it’s slammed in their face.

Malindorie

Yes, I – an avid reader of Onemanga.com – am aware that free scanlation constitutes copyright infringement. But I support onemanga.com, and this is why:

I legally buy tons of manga and anime DVDs, as soon as they become available in English. My support of the manga/anime industry is in the thousand-dollar range.

The problem is, the English translations take FOREVER to come out. For example, my favorite manga is called Inuyasha. The manga ended in Japan in June 2008, over 2 years ago. The English version of the manga is still about 80 chapters away from completion. By the time the last chapter gets released, the lag time will be about 3 years in duration. That’s ridiculous. The scanlators, on the other hand, got the last chapter online in 2 days. That is why everyone reads the scanlations.

And it’s not like the publishers don’t know this – the readers have been complaining about it for years. In my opinion, the scanlators actually help the publishers by keeping the readers interested in their product. Even a fan like me might have given up on Inuyasha if I’d had to wait 3 extra years to find out what happened.

Also, websites like onemanga.com have a huge collection of manga. I’ve been introduced to many manga by reading them on onemanga – which I then bought in the stores and on Amazon.com (since some are hard to find). I like reading the manga in hard copy better, anyway. So, I went to onemanga.com for Inuyasha and Bleach, and got hooked on about 20 others in the process, all of which I now own legal copies of. That’s literally hundreds of manga that I purchased as a result of my exposure to onemanga.com.

RIP, onemanga.com, I will miss you terribly. And so will the publishers, I think (especially since angry manga fans will probably retaliate with boycotts).

Ayato Yami

I am quite sad about the closing of onemanga. It is a site that I visit everyday. Reading, both manga and regular novels are a very big part of my life. I manage to balance manga, anime, writing novels, friends, and studying in college. (Not that I’m bragging) But on the flip side, I can say that I am proud of onemanga. Even though I am one of the millions who did read the illegal manga, I think it is honorable for a company to take a stand for what is really right. True, there are other sites and things, but onemanga was a special part of my heart. The manga I read on the site helped fuel my imagination to writing my novels. That is why I really like Bakuman, without onemanga, I never would have found such a manga that illustrates my dream so well. I do not blame the manga writers for their feelings. If I did an incredible work of art, I would feel bad that I would lose out on my profits.

Malindorie is right though, english translations take so long. Manga and anime are two things that the WORLD shares. It is difficult to find something that nearly all countries have in common. Also, Andrew has a good idea as well about the Hulu aspect of manga. My thing is that if you know that the US has such a big demand in anime and manga, what is the point of waiting for the translation period? If I were a mangaka, I would plan for both the japanese and english versions if I knew it were popular. It would be a better profit move to do both. There will always be US citizens who will pay for their manga and anime like myself! Sigh… but nonetheless, if onemanga is going down, then I will use the time it has left to enjoy as much of it as I can. Manga is truly inspirational to me and so was onemanga. Perhaps with all these posts, a better process will be invented.

a manga reader

One manga make a lot of profit ? Readers pay for them ?
Well, see for your self if it is free or not, and try to count the number of ads on the site. I wonder if that even enough to maintain the site it self.

How long was is still internet became popular ? If the publishers cant adapt, scanlators stand in.
And now square enix and some publishers even try to open digital manga store. Well, someone try to get your money while some others can give you free. And if you wonder, online manga transaction cost is likely zero, and that is why fan made scanlators still breathing while provide you your manga. Well, it does cost them their time and effort, but they love manga, and we love manga. If it is not for them, as if manga and anime can be this popular out side Japan.

And if you feel for the mangakas, buy manga for them. But well, one again, try to find it at your local store if you can. Unless it is some famous manga that had been licensed, you could try forever, good luck. Wonder why ? You a not in Japan, know your place, and you are not even consider their customers. Until now, mangaka customers are mostly still Japaneses, and if you are a Japanese, i wonder if you prefer reading in english,

So dont try to tell me that manga sales in Japan down recently is because of some free english scanlators. And if you want some reason for it, try searching a bit. However for the U.S, i must say that it is true enough. Part of it because they are slow, and only published popular manga only though. If mangaka complain, they have the right, but is it publishers who are whining.

I dont think read their manga is disrespect the mangaka. We read it cos we love it. And if you respect them, i mention it again, buy their manga if you find some.

What i see in this move is, like: “Damn, our sales is down, what to do? Oh, look, it is a gold mine, and some illegal non profit guy dare to more popular than us. Let kick those dreamy idiots out and make it ours ”

well…, you are rick, hu? Happy paying

Anonymous

Really, I hear lots of “Support the mangaka,” but it’s not the mangaka who are banning anything. It’s the publishers. Honestly, mangaka were doing just fine before manga became popular in the US. Onemanga may be illegal, but that’s because some big-business people make it so because they want to make money. Of course, they need to make a living, but there are fan scanlators who do just as much, if not more work, to get LOTS of stuff done, high quality, fast. I think it’s amazing that there are people who would do that for free. They just love manga and are willing to sacrifice their time like that.
Also, it’s not exactly like publishers are saints, either. They’re releasing these for the money, and while it creates jobs and feeds people and all that, they know they’re slower and sometimes even worse quality, but they’re not doing much about it. I think, if you’re going to make money from it, waste less time arguing with your CONSUMERS and spend more time actually trying to make your stuff better than the stuff these unpaid nonprofessionals can do. I’d rather watch a high quality dub than a sub, and I’d rather read a professional scan than an amateur one, but face it, when Shoujo Beat turns the use of a first name into “sweetie” it’s just really depressing for me. Not to mention, it’s just creating bad blood between fans and publishers.
Honestly, I think it’s pretty useless to try and kill scanlating. If all the publishers involved in the piracy crusade joined up and made a hosting site better than Onemanga, which would be a piece of cake if they could work together, I’d totally pay for it, and they could still make money off of minimal ads that don’t interfere with reading. They could do SO MUCH, and yet they DON’T.

Fabian

I support sites like Onemanga, Mangafox and stuff. Yes, I know it’s illegal content and things like that, but without those sites, I would have never been able to read all the mangas that I’ve “Illegally” read. Take for example Dragon Ball, back when I lived in Mexico, Dragon Ball GT aired ONCE, only one time (the whole season), and then DBZ was aired like crazy for YEARS! I’m sick and tired of super sayjins now. I also saw One Piece for the first time on tv, and i only thought they were “cartoons” but when I came to the US I discovered that they were something bigger than just “cartoons”, they were actually called Anime and Manga. So, I got hooked on manga, and bought like…..10 volumes of manga (6 naruto, 4 bleach….One Piece doesn’t exist in Wal-Mart….>_.>

Well….In the end, We, the readers, are doing something good…..Saving the planet…..After all, instead of buying all those volumes, we read them online, effectively reducing the amount of trees that are cut down worldwide…..XD

Well, the was the end of my rant lol, beside I remember that I read somewhere sometime before that One Piece’s author, Oda-sensei, was actually okay with online hosting sites, since they made it possible for manga to reach the readers <3

I'm not sure about that last fact though, my memory is kind of fuggy right now =3

whatever

since i do not understand japanese, i get to read onamanga coz it has my favorite comic stories and it’s for free.. i would be very hypocrite if i say they would be banned when in fact i am one of their avid readers.. you should not judge us as if your hands were not stained.. as if they never helped us be updated more than other websites.. i would miss onemanga..

randumbz

OM got me interested in manga. it inspired me to move to japan and become a mangaka when i grow up. i used to read manga on OM every day. i was reading manga on it UNTIL IT CLOSED. i’ve only been reading it 4 a year and a half but i do buy manga that i like. now that OM is closed i have to read manga on bootleg websites i’ve never heard of. i wish they could start OM again….

lunias

as a 16 year old, i own many mangakas, but can’t get anymore. why? no money. and i can’t get them from the library or watch the anime ‘cuz my parents are sick of that ‘nariarto-crap’. downloading spams the pc, so sites like OM are all i had. now i can’t read anymore. that’s one fan lost to ‘profit’. how many more like me are there?

lunias

whenever a series viz has is about to end, they take it off the site. how is that harmful? they just want more money and someone to blame and whine about. i forsee a great drop in fanbase for all manga. even naruto, which seems to be dying off as well, will lose popularity. they’ve made a huge mistake by upsetting the fans, and something will happen.

Patrick

Something that media companies dont seem to realize is that there are plenty of people in the world who wouldn’t be buying what they sell, the only way they will consume it is by doing so for free. There are many ways of doing this, from borrowing them from friends (I have been doing this with Usagi Yojimbo) to torrenting scanned copies. However, these people still will share discoveries of good art with others, and a percent of those people will pay for it.

Personally, I don’t really do this from choice because of the reality that I dont have the money to continuously spend on comics/manga, or the space to store them. When I get money, I plan to legally obtain copies.

KiraTheKitsune

I have never looked at any scanlations but instead of posting everything online and getting paid through ads like a radio or TV why not have a website of “taste testing” of a whole bunch of manga? You get to test like the first chapter or two to see if you like it and then you can order it there on the website. I think instead of feeding our addiction to tech we should step away hand hold that awesome graphic novel in our own two hands. I may have not seen scanlations but I have seen web comics and you just don’t get the same experience with a laptop or a computer.